An Iranian military spokesman was reportedly killed in airstrikes just hours after he publicly challenged claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
Ali Mohammad Naini, an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps spokesperson and deputy of public relations, was killed in overnight strikes conducted by U.S. and Israeli forces, Iranian state media revealed on Friday. The Tasnim news agency claimed that Naini “was martyred.” He had been the spokesman since 2024, according to the Times of Israel. Hours before his death, Naini publicly challenged claims made by Netanyahu, rebuffing the Israeli Prime Minister’s assertion that Iran was no longer capable of making ballistic missiles due to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.
“Iran today has … no ability to produce ballistic missiles,” Netanyahu said previously during a press conference on Thursday.
Israel Defense Forces confirmed his death on Friday morning.
“In his role, Naini disseminated the regime’s terrorist propaganda to its proxies across the Middle East in order to influence and advance terror attacks against the State of Israel from the different fronts,” said the IDF.
Naini insisted Iran still could produce ballistic missiles, according to multiple reports. He said that the war would continue until the “enemy” was “completely exhausted.”
“These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted,” Naini reportedly said. “This war must end when the shadow of war is lifted from the country.”
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Naini’s death is the latest among senior Iranian officials killed in airstrikes this week, which have included Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Basij unit, and Esmaeil Khatib, Iran’s top intelligence officer. Hamas commander Yahya Abu Labda was also killed in an airstrike this week.
Despite Netanyahu’s claims on Thursday about Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, fighting continued between Israel and Iran. IDF reported multiple ballistic missiles launched by Iran toward central Israel and Jerusalem. Warning sirens sounded in the area, alerting citizens to take precautionary measures.